Great Captains Unveiled

London: Greenhill Books, 1990. Reprint Edition. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. Martin Bronkhorst (Jacket Design). xii, [2], 274 pages. Frontis illustration. With a New Introduction by Max Hastings. DJ has some wear and sticker residue at back. Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart (31 October 1895 - 29 January 1970), commonly known throughout most of his career as Captain B. H. Liddell Hart, was a British soldier, military historian and military theorist. As Prime Minister in 1937, Chamberlain placed Liddell Hart in a position of influence behind British grand strategy of the late thirties. In May he prepared schemes for the reorganization of the British Army for defence of the British Empire and delivered them to Sir Thomas Inskip, the Minister for the Co-Ordination of Defence. In June he gained an introduction to the Secretary of State for War, Leslie Hore-Belisha. Through July 1938 the two had an unofficial, close advisory relationship. Liddell Hart provided Hore-Belisha with ideas that he would argue for in Cabinet or committees. "Great Captains Unveiled" incisively examines the brilliant military careers of six masters of the battlefield: Jenghiz Khan and Sabutai, who led their Mongol cavalry into the heart of medieval Europe and shook the fabric of its civilization; the French Marechal de Saxe, a military prophet of rare foresight, and author of "Reveries, " a classic on the art of war; Gustavus Adolphus, the Swedish king during the Thirty Years War, who emphasized officer education, national recruitment, and the combination of firepower and mobility; Wallenstein, champion of the Holy Roman Empire and Adolphus's formidable opponent, who proved to be a genius of maneuver and psychological warfare; and James Wolfe, whose flawless execution of one of the most daring amphibious operations in history virtually gave Canada to the British. Liddell Hart's penetrating, decisive studies of these great captains reveal not only their genius and impact, but offer relevant lessons that 20th-century military commanders have yet to fully reap.